


Devil May Care

by saturnalyia



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demons, Demon AU, Demons, Humor, I wrote this without a plan, M/M, Roommates, Sharing a Bed, gross overuse of italics, just go with it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-31 01:23:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20106865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saturnalyia/pseuds/saturnalyia
Summary: Minhyuk summons a demon. Which is enough of a problem in itself, but it’s made even worse by the fact that — he doesn’t know how to send him back.Hyungwon shouldn’t even be involved in this madness, except that Minhyuk is his roommate, and the demon named Changkyun is hard not to get attached to.





	Devil May Care

"I summoned a demon."

Hyungwon blinks at Minhyuk, hand frozen midway through bringing a spoonful of rice to his mouth. "What?"

"You need to help me," Minhyuk continues, as if Hyungwon hadn't spoken or asked a question, "I don't know what to do."

"Hold up," Hyungwon interrupts. He sets his spoon down back down in the takeout container. His roommate may be an all-around disaster human, but there's no way he actually summoned a demon. Hyungwon's hearing must be going. "I thought I heard you say you summoned a demon."

Minhyuk shoots him a withering look of annoyance, as if  _ he's  _ the one who should be annoyed, when Hyungwon's the one who's had his perfectly peaceful dinner interrupted by what has to be some sort of prank.

"I  _ did  _ summon a demon," Minhyuk says, forcefully. "And I need you to  _ help me." _

Hyungwon stares at Minhyuk. "What are you talking about? How could you possibly have summoned a demon—" 

"I just did, okay—" Minhyuk sounds exasperated.

"No, seriously, are you high—" 

"I'm not  _ high,  _ I was messing around with these old spell books—"

Hyungwon scoffs loudly. "Those  _ hoax  _ books you mean—"

And then the door to Minhyuk's room opens, and an  _ extremely naked  _ man walks out, tousling his black hair as he does so.

"Sorry to interrupt," Naked Man says, grinning devilishly at Hyungwon and Minhyuk, "but I was getting a little peckish. Do you have any human souls I can feast on?"

Hyungwon blinks once, then twice, then screams.

  
  


* * *

  
  


"No, seriously, the human soul thing was a joke. I was just getting bored waiting in the room."

Hyungwon darts his gaze between Minhyuk and the Supposed Demon, who's now thankfully dressed in an oversized hoodie and track pants belonging to Minhyuk. He looks remarkably...un-demonlike. His fringe flops into his eyes and he pushes it away in a casual, utterly natural, completely human-esque way. 

That somehow makes it all the more unnerving.

"So you're not going to kill us and eat us?" Minhyuk asks. He, too, sounds wary, but he's at least taken a seat at the dining table across from the demon. Hyungwon, on the other hand, is standing in the kitchen, flattened against the fridge in an attempt to get as far away from the demon as humanly possible. Until he can phase through solid objects, this will have to do.

Demon Boy chuckles and shakes his head. "Not that kind of demon," he says, shrugging. "The soul-eating ones are much harder to summon. For obvious reasons — health and safety, you know?"

Hyungwon lets out a strangled cry, which makes Demon Boy turn to him. In response, Hyungwon lets out another strangled cry. "Demons have health and safety?"

"Yeah, duh," says Demon Boy, rolling his eyes like Hyungwon's asked an incredibly stupid question. "We have quotas, targets. No more than X number of souls to be eaten every century, no fewer than Y number of crossroads deals to be made, et cetera."

Minhyuk's staring at the demon with wide eyes. "Wow," he says, "cool."

"No," snaps Hyungwon, "not cool."

Human and demon both ignore him.

"Do you have a name?"

Demon Boy beams at Minhyuk, obviously pleased to have been asked. "It's Changkyun," he declares proudly.

"That — that's a really normal-sounding name," Hyungwon says, despite himself, because the surprise has fried his brain and he's forgotten that he really, really shouldn't be conversing with demons like they're old friends.

Demon Boy — Changkyun — smirks at Hyungwon. "It's the name I gave myself, for when I get summoned by humans," he explains. "My real name is actually—" 

And then, without warning, Changkyun opens his mouth and lets out a noise that can only be described as a blood-curdling shriek crossed with the sound of a thousand glass bottles smashing to the floor in unison. Hyungwon hunkers down on the floor, covering his ears, and Minhyuk does the same on his chair.

"You see why I don't tell humans my real name?" Changkyun asks, once he’s done assaulting their eardrums, smiling serenely as Minhyuk and Hyungwon slowly blink their eyes open at him. Hyungwon feels like his eyes are watering from the sheer unpleasantness of the sound.

"You — have a beautiful name," Minhyuk offers feebly.

Changkyun twists his lips at Minhyuk in a terrifying approximation of a smile. "Thank you," he says, somehow managing to make it sound like a threat. "Now, this has been very lovely and all, but I would really like to be getting on my way."

Hyungwon nods eagerly. That's the most sensible thing the demon's said all evening. "Yes," he says hurriedly, "please do go."

"Wonnie," Minhyuk scolds, "don't be rude."

Hyungwon goggles at Minhyuk. "Rude?" he hisses, in mounting indignation. "He's a  _ demon!" _

Changkyun clears his throat primly. "Demons have feelings too," he says, in a haughty voice, and Hyungwon can't tell if he's joking or not, but he gets the distinct sense that he's being made fun of.

"I'm very sorry about my  _ extremely rude  _ friend," Minhyuk says, giving Hyungwon a pointed glare. "We would love to let you get back to your, uh, home. Hell. Demonland. Wherever you live."

Changkyun smirks. "It's actually a nine dimensional plane of existence that you humans couldn't possibly comprehend, but sure — Hell. That works."

Minhyuk looks like he's dying to ask a thousand more questions, but Hyungwon croaks weakly and Minhyuk, with some sympathy for his roommate and best friend's nerves, bites down on his curiosity. 

"Well, then — thank you for coming to see us," he says amicably, waving one hand at Changkyun in farewell, "have a good day! Goodbye!"

Hyungwon waits for the poof of smoke, maybe the crash of thunder, whatever it is that accompanies a demon departure. Maybe some red sparks. But instead, there's — nothing. Just Changkyun, sitting at the dining table, eyes narrowing at Minhyuk dangerously.

"Hang on a minute," Changkyun says, slowly. His gaze flicks over to Hyungwon, and Hyungwon cowers back against the fridge. "Do you guys even know how to send me back?"

Minhyuk's eyes widen. "What do you mean—"

"What the heavens?" Changkyun shoves his chair back as he gets to his feet. His eyes glint dark, and if Hyungwon thought he was scary before, that's nothing compared to the way he looks now. "You summoned me here with no idea how to send me back?"

"We have to  _ send you back?"  _ Minhyuk asks. 

Hyungwon whimpers meekly, shuffling towards Minhyuk to tug on his sleeve. Changkyun seems to be getting more and more annoyed with every word Minhyuk speaks, and Hyungwon still isn't totally convinced by his whole 'I don't eat human souls' spiel. Minhyuk, on the other hand, seems to have no fear or sense of self-preservation. 

"I thought you could just, I don't know —  _ poof!"  _ he cries out, and mimes this poof-ing action in mid-air with his hands.

Changkyun bares his teeth. "Poof?" he repeats, advancing slowly on Minhyuk. "You're telling me I'm stuck here because you thought I could just —  _ poof?" _

Minhyuk holds his hands up in surrender. "My bad," he offers, grinning sheepishly. Hyungwon smacks him across the back of his head. He can't believe he's going to have his soul sucked out of his body and his eyeballs chomped on like jellies by a demon who looks like an under-fed college student, all because of Lee Minhyuk. 

"Do you even know what summoning spell you used?" Changkyun asks, seemingly — thankfully — deciding it's not worth murdering the two incompetent humans he's faced with. He presses his thumb and forefinger against the bridge of his nose.

Minhyuk straightens up, yanking a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. "Yes, I do!" he declares. "I photocopied the page of the book with the spell — here it is."

Changkyun takes the proffered sheet of paper, frowning at it. "This doesn't help me," he says, grumpily, after no time at all. He waves the sheet of paper in Minhyuk's face. "Where's the rest of the book?" 

"In the university library," Minhyuk says, hesitating. "I don't want to have to go back and get it — can't you just tell us what the other humans who summoned you did to send you back?"

This makes Changkyun scowl. He folds his arms across his chest. "No, I can't," he says icily, "because I haven't been summoned before. This is my first summoning."

Hyungwon gapes at Changkyun. "Why haven't you been summoned before?"

"Because I'm _young," _Changkyun snaps. "Just wait till Kihyun hyung hears about this, _he'll _eat your souls."

Hyungwon assumes Kihyun is another demon, one older and considerably more prone to soul-eating than Changkyun. In any case, Hyungwon doesn't want  _ any _ demon to eat his soul. He digs his elbow into Minhyuk's ribs. 

"Go get the spell book," he hisses fiercely.

Minhyuk looks like he wants to complain, but one look at Hyungwon's glare and then back at Changkyun's furiously narrowed eyes, and he whimpers helplessly. "Okay, okay — chill," he says, stumbling over his words. He picks up his jacket off the coat hook, shoves his keys into the pocket. "I'll go get the book I used and be right back. Wonnie, will you, uh — watch Changkyun."

Hyungwon thinks he'd rather stab a fork into his thigh, but given the circumstances, there's nothing much he can do but agree. 

"Hurry up," he says, as Minhyuk leaves.  _ "Please." _

Then the front door clicks shut behind Minhyuk, and Hyungwon is left alone in the flat with an actual  _ demon. _

He turns slowly back to Changkyun. Maybe this won't be so bad. It'll just be like — watching a friend's cat. He'll sit on the sofa, and Changkyun will sit in a corner of the room, both of them minding their own business.

Changkyun grins at him, revealing a set of perfect white teeth and two sharp canines. 

"I know I promised not to eat you," Changkyun says, "but you do smell  _ particularly  _ yummy."

Hyungwon blanches.

  
  


* * *

  
  


"I don't get what is so difficult to understand," Hyungwon says sharply, as he rummages in the kitchen cupboard for something Changkyun might want to eat. "Just don't joke about eating me. That's all I ask."

Changkyun, lounging on the sofa and watching Hyungwon with a curious eye, just laughs. "But your reaction is so funny."

"My reaction of  _ fear?" _ Hyungwon asks, offended even though he really shouldn't be surprised. This is a demon he's talking to, after all.

"Yes, correct, your eyes go all big and your mouth turns downwards and your aura changes to this really funny greenish colour."

Hyungwon freezes with a cereal box in each hand. "My aura?"

Changkyun nods eagerly. "One of the dimensions your stupid little human brains can't see," he explains cheekily, leaning out over the back of the sofa and stretching his arms towards Hyungwon. His hands clench and unclench into fists. Grabby. "What's that, it looks yummy, let me see—" 

"This?" Hyungwon holds up the box of Fruit Loops, and Changkyun's eyes light up with delight. "It's Fruit Loops. Do you want some?"

"Yes, yes!" Changkyun looks so excited, like a little child who's been promised ice cream. For a second, it's almost possible to forget that he's not an excitable child but a demon who might — despite promises — kill Hyungwon and suck out his soul.

But, for now, Hyungwon just forces a smile that’s halfway between grin and grimace, and hands the box over. He does so while staying as far away from Changkyun as he possibly can, grateful for his long limbs that allow him to present Changkyun with the cereal box without going anywhere near him.

Changkyun looks deeply amused by Hyungwon’s acrobatic attempt to stay far away from him. He accepts the box of Fruit Loops, and settles down on the sofa with his legs crossed underneath him. Hyungwon sidles around the edge of the living room, sits in the armchair in the furthest corner, and keeps his eyes trained on Changkyun.

“You can come closer, you know,” Changkyun says, beaming at him. He shoves one hand into the cereal box and pulls out a handful of Fruit Loops, which he sprinkles into his mouth. The ‘crunch, crunch, crunch’ of him chomping on the cereal is desperately unnerving, especially when combined with the exaggerated grin he’s plastered onto his face.

“I’m fine over here, thank you,” Hyungwon replies. He curls his legs up to his chest, still staring warily at Changkyun.

“Honestly.” Changkyun pours another handful of Fruit Loops into his mouth.  _ Crunch, crunch, crunch.  _ “I don’t bite.”

Hyungwon seriously doubts that. The expression on his face must make that clear, because suddenly Changkyun’s bursting into wild, tinkling laughter. Hyungwon curls more tightly into himself.

“Okay, maybe I do bite,” Changkyun concedes, “but only when asked.” He bares his teeth, making a low growling sound. “I won’t bite you — unless you want me to.”

Hyungwon makes a high-pitched sort of whine in the back of his throat. “No biting,” he says, nervously. “You just — you stick to your Fruit Loops.”

Changkyun grabs another handful of the colourful cereal. He’s sprinkling fruity, sugary cereal dust everywhere, but Hyungwon knows better than to point this out. 

“I’m bored,” Changkyun says, finally, setting the cereal box down. He wipes his hands off on Minhyuk’s track pants, and stretches out across the sofa, yawning like a cat. “Talk to me.”

“What — what do you want me to talk about?” Hyungwon never thought he’d be one to take orders from demons, but somehow he thinks the best way to deal with Changkyun is to take the path of least resistance.

Changkyun tips his head to the side, eyeing Hyungwon curiously. “I don’t know,” he says. “Tell me about yourself. And your friend, the one who summoned me. Why did he summon me?”

Hyungwon makes a face. “Curiosity?” he suggests. Then he sighs, relaxing into the armchair a little, though he keeps his legs curled up to his chest. “Minhyuk’s doing a postgraduate degree in some weird occult stuff,” he says. “I don’t really get it.”

“By which you mean, you don’t believe it,” Changkyun corrects, raising his eyebrows at Hyungwon. He’s somehow managed to throw his legs over the back of the sofa, his head tipping backwards off the seat, so that he’s looking at Hyungwon upside down. 

Even in this position, Hyungwon can see the judgment on his face, plain as day for all to see.

“I don’t know,” Hyungwon replies, a little huffily. “It’s not exactly scientifically proven, is it?”

At this, Changkyun laughs, and flips himself to standing with such agility that Hyungwon isn’t sure if he’d used some weird demonic powers. In any case, Changkyun doesn’t give Hyungwon any time to question it, because he’s already holding his arms out and declaring, “Am I not evidence enough for you?”

Hyungwon has to admit, meeting a demon is a pretty convincing argument for some of the weird stuff Minhyuk believes in. But still — his skepticism is hard to set aside. 

“Technically, I didn’t  _ see _ Minhyuk summon you,” Hyungwon points out. “You could just be a friend of his that he brought back to play a very elaborate prank on me.”

Changkyun rolls his eyes. “Fine,” he says, “you want proof? I’ll show you.” 

And then he starts walking over towards Hyungwon.

“No, wait,” Hyungwon chokes out, scrabbling further back into his armchair, “I don’t want proof, I never said that, ah—”

Changkyun stops directly in front of Hyungwon, who’s twisted himself into a protective ball on the armchair. “Don’t be such a baby,” Changkyun scolds, and Hyungwon would be offended if he wasn’t so terrified. “I just want to show you something.”

“Show me what?” Hyungwon wheezes weakly, peering out from under his arm at Changkyun, who’s inexplicably going to his knees in front of Hyungwon. “What — what are you doing?”

“Will you calm down, I’m not going to hurt you,” Changkyun says, sounding more than a little irritated. He reaches out for Hyungwon’s hand, slowly, and Hyungwon flinches. “Just — let me—”

Hyungwon swallows tightly around the lump in his throat. Adrenaline floods his system, his heart rate picking up pace dangerously fast. Changkyun’s hand is warm, and dry, and so much smaller than his own. It feels like a human hand. Nothing slimy or fiery or demonic about it at all.

“Can you feel that?” Changkyun asks, gently placing Hyungwon’s hand on his head. He moves Hyungwon’s fingers around on his scalp experimentally.

“Feel what?” Hyungwon asks, his voice coming out all strangled, and then — he feels it. A little nub of something, pushing up against Changkyun’s scalp. “Oh,” he says, in surprise, not quite sure what he’s feeling.

“They’re my horns,” Changkyun says, beaming with pride. “I have one on this side too.” He turns his head, presenting his other horn to Hyungwon. And, because it would be rude not to, Hyungwon slips his fingers through Changkyun’s hair, rubs at the little nub on Changkyun’s scalp.

“Ah,” Hyungwon says, for want of anything else to say. “Okay.”

Changkyun settles back on his heels, still kneeling in front of Hyungwon. “I retracted them because that’s what you’re supposed to do in front of humans,” he explains. “Do you want to see them, for real?”

Hyungwon blinks. “For real?” he asks. “What do you mean for real?”

Changkyun doesn’t respond, and Hyungwon’s about to repeat his question, when he sees it. From where the two nubs on Changkyun’s scalp had been, are two dark red horns, slowly poking their way out through Changkyun’s hair. Hyungwon stares at them as they grow, transfixed by the fact that there’s a demon kneeling in front of him right now, showing him his horns. It feels oddly intimate, in a way that Hyungwon really doesn’t want to think about.

When the two horns have grown to about two inches in length, Changkyun grins and shakes his head like he’s tossing his hair behind his shoulders. “What about them?” he asks brightly. “You like them?”

“They’re, uh,” Hyungwon starts, then hesitates. How does one describe a pair of horns? “They’re — cute.”

Changkyun frowns, and juts his bottom lip out — is he  _ pouting? _ Hyungwon can only stare in confusion at Changkyun, who is most definitely pouting. 

“I’m  _ young,”  _ Changkyun grumbles, “they’re still  _ growing.” _

Hyungwon gets the sense that he’s offended Changkyun. And he feels bad about this. Which is — a whole can of worms that he really doesn’t want to open right now. But Changkyun’s still kneeling at his feet, except now he looks like he might burst into tears, and Hyungwon panics.

“No,” he says quickly, waving his hands in front of him as if to cancel everything he’d just said, “cute is good! Cute is good, I like cute.”

Changkyun freezes, eyes wide as he stares up at Hyungwon. “Really?” he asks. “You like them?”

Hyungwon chews on his lower lip. In a weird, completely insane, kind of way, he supposes he does. They suit Changkyun — even though Hyungwon knows nothing about Changkyun, he knows this. The horns complete his devilish demeanour, from the mischievous glint in his eyes to the sly quirk of his lips.

“Yeah,” Hyungwon says, reaching up hesitantly to touch one of the horns. Changkyun leans closer to let him. “I like them.”

And then the front door flies open.

  
  


* * *

  
  


“Who’s this?” Jooheon asks, narrowing his eyes at Changkyun, who’s currently sprawled out on the floor where Hyungwon had instinctively shoved him in alarm. Thankfully, he’s retracted his horns.

“Hello,” Changkyun says, not really answering the question, “I’m Changkyun.”

Hoseok peers out from behind Jooheon. “What’s going on?”

Hyungwon grimaces, clambering awkwardly to his feet and going to help Changkyun up. “It’s a long story,” he says cagily, internally cursing his and Minhyuk’s bad habit of leaving the door unlocked when they’re in the flat. It had never seemed like a problem before this.

"Are you Hyungwon's boyfriend?" Hoseok asks Changkyun, and Hyungwon nearly chokes on an intake of breath in his haste to dispel Hoseok of that particular misapprehension.

"Absolutely not," Hyungwon splutters out.

At the same time, Changkyun announces brightly, "I'm a demon!"

Jooheon narrows his eyes, gaze flicking between Changkyun and Hyungwon. "Is that some sort of euphemism?" he asks, face scrunching up in distaste. "Like, demon in the sack, or something?"

"No, oh god—" Hyungwon has no idea how to save the situation. He melts back into the armchair weakly. "Look, Minhyuk will explain when he's back—" 

And then, as if on cue, the front door slams open and Minhyuk comes crashing in. Everyone startles, except Changkyun, who just turns placidly towards the source of the commotion.

"Okay, I can't check the book out, so we're gonna have to bring the demon boy to the library — oh, hello."

Minhyuk interrupts himself when he spots Jooheon and Hoseok standing in the middle of his living room, looking utterly bewildered. 

"Demon," Jooheon repeats, slowly. He glances at Changkyun out of the corner of his eyes. "You're telling me that  _ that's  _ a demon."

Hoseok lets out a frightened yelp and scurries further away from Changkyun.  _ Yes,  _ Hyungwon thinks. _ That's the right response. _

Minhyuk nods eagerly at Jooheon. "Yes, well, you know I've been trying to summon a demon—" 

"Wait," Hyungwon says, getting to his feet, "you  _ knew  _ Minhyuk was trying to summon a demon?"

Jooheon grimaces. "I didn't think he'd  _ actually  _ do it!"

This makes Minhyuk look rather put-out. "All your lack of faith in my mystical skills is very disheartening."

Hyungwon is about to point out that their lack of faith isn't necessarily misplaced, given that this is the first time Minhyuk's had any sort of success with his weird experiments, when something Minhyuk said earlier clicks in his brain.

"Hang on a minute," he says, levelling Minhyuk with a warning glare, "what do you mean you couldn't check the book out?"

"Ah." Minhyuk scratches at the back of his head with one finger. "I forgot that it's reference only. Changkyun's going to have to come to the library with us if he wants to look at it."

Changkyun, who's perched himself on the sofa with his legs curled up beneath him, perks up at this. "Fun!" he exclaims, beaming. "Does this mean I get to go outside?"

"No!" Hyungwon shouts, at the same time that Minhyuk goes, "I guess so."

Hyungwon gives Jooheon a helpless look. "Honey," he whines, "talk some sense into him, please."

Jooheon, traitor and Hyungwon's current public enemy number one, says, "I don't know what book this is but if you need the demon to look at it, it doesn't sound like you have a choice."

"There's always a choice," Hyungwon grumbles, "for example, we could frame the librarian for PCP possession and blackmail her into letting us take the book."

Minhyuk waves Hyungwon away dismissively. "It'll be fine," he says, as stupidly full of unwarranted optimism as ever. "He looks just like a student! We'll fit right in."

And then Hoseok lets out a shout of glee, and goes, "Oh wow, he has  _ horns!" _

  
  


* * *

  
  


Somehow, in the time it had taken for Hyungwon and Minhyuk to bicker about the library situation, Hoseok had managed to befriend Changkyun. He's now crouched on the floor by the sofa, peering up at Changkyun and the two tiny horns poking out of his hair.

"Put those away!" Hyungwon shouts in a panic, even though there's no point hiding them, Jooheon and Hoseok are now in on this madness whether any of them like it or not.

Changkyun pouts at Hyungwon — again — and says, defensively, "He wanted to know if I had horns, so I showed him!"

Hoseok nods up at Hyungwon. "Yeah!" he agrees, full of boundless enthusiasm now that the fear seems to have dissipated. "I like your horns," he says to Changkyun, "they're cute."

"Cute!" Changkyun claps his hands together in delight. "That's good, right? Wonnie said that's good."

Hyungwon coughs ungracefully. Minhyuk screeches,  _ "Wonnie?"  _ And, to be honest, fair enough — where the hell did that come from?

"Is that not your name?" Changkyun asks, looking confused and somewhat apologetic. "That's what Minhyuk calls you."

"It's a nickname," Hyungwon says weakly. He can feel a migraine coming on. "My name's Hyungwon."

"Oh." Changkyun considers this for a moment. Then: "Can I call you Wonnie, though? It's cute. I like it."

Hyungwon goggles at him. "What—" 

"I let you call me by my nickname, too," Changkyun points out, conveniently ignoring the fact that 'Changkyun' isn't technically a nickname, just a name that allows them to speak to him without having their eardrums blown out. 

Hoseok looks intrigued by this. "Is Changkyun not your real name?" he asks. Hyungwon looks at him in horror.

"No, wait, don't—" 

But it's too late. Changkyun beams at Hoseok, and says, "Nope! My real name is—" followed by that same ear-splitting shriek-cum-shatter cacophony from before. Hyungwon groans, holding his temples with the heels of his hands. Hoseok topples backwards onto the floor in alarm, and Jooheon startles so hard he leaps backwards and treads on Minhyuk's foot. Serves Minhyuk right.

"Can we please focus," Hyungwon says weakly, as Minhyuk shoves Jooheon away and looks like he's about to start an argument. "The book. Come on, let's go to the library."

At this, Minhyuk clears his throat uncomfortably. "Actually," he points out, "the library's closed for the day now. We'll have to go back tomorrow."

Hyungwon stares at Minhyuk. This cannot possibly be happening. Now they have to babysit a demon overnight? No fucking way.

Minhyuk just grins at him and shrugs. Hoseok snatches up the TV remote and waves it about overhead. 

"Does this mean we can get on with movie night?" he shouts, as if this were an ordinary Friday night, and not one in which Minhyuk had summoned a demon into his home.

Hyungwon flops down into the sofa. "Fine," he says, defeated, "whatever."

  
  


* * *

  
  


They end up picking a horror movie, assuming — incorrectly — that Changkyun would enjoy it. As it happens, Changkyun spends the entire time pointing out factual inaccuracies in the depiction of demons and what he describes as their 'complex socio-political hierarchy'. Jooheon, meanwhile, is far too terrified by the movie to enjoy himself — which is weird, given that he's not in the slightest bit afraid of the  _ actual, real life demon  _ that's sitting next to him on the sofa.

In any case, they give up on the movie halfway, by which time it's somehow already well past eleven — the whole commotion about Changkyun's arrival had taken up a lot of time, followed by nearly an hour of trying to pick a movie (that they didn't end up finishing anyway). Jooheon and Hoseok leave, bidding them all farewell, even Changkyun, as if they're all friends or something. It's weird. Hyungwon doesn't like it, but Minhyuk seems blissfully oblivious to that fact that it's absolutely  _ insane  _ to treat a demon like one of their friends.

"Well," Hyungwon declares, standing up. Enough of this madness. "We should go to bed."

Minhyuk yawns and stretches by way of agreement, before tilting his head at Changkyun curiously. "Do you — do demons sleep?"

Changkyun rolls his eyes. "Of course we sleep," he says flatly. "Why wouldn't we sleep?"

"I don't know, maybe you don't sleep because you get all your energy from human souls or something."

Hyungwon makes a wheezing noise at Minhyuk. "No more talk about eating human souls!"

Minhyuk ignores him. "Are you going to be okay sleeping on the sofa?" he asks Changkyun. "We'll bring you blankets."

Changkyun smirks at Minhyuk. "I only sleep upside down, like a bat."

Minhyuk's jaw falls open. He stares mutely at Changkyun. Hyungwon sighs heavily.

"He's joking," he says to Minhyuk, tiredly, before turning back to Changkyun. "You're joking, right?"

Changkyun grins, eyes sparkling with mirth. "Yep! I sleep very normally," he says, "aside from the fact that I need much less of it than humans. If I wake up in the middle of the night can I come and watch you guys sleep?"

"What?" Hyungwon makes a face. "No, absolutely not, what the fuck—" And then he looks properly at Changkyun's face, and trails off. "You're joking again, aren't you?"

Changkyun just beams, curling up on the sofa with his knees hugged to his chest, and wriggles his toes at them. Minhyuk sighs and pulls open the drawer in their TV console where the extra bedding is stored.

"I'm starting to think you'll fit right in with our circle of friends," he says, handing Changkyun a pillow and a blanket. "You're an absolute demon — and I don't mean literally."

Changkyun looks inordinately pleased by this statement. He arranges the pillow at one end of the sofa, and pulls the blanket up over himself, hooking his chin over the top edge of it so that only his face is visible. 

"If you need anything, you can come wake me up," Minhyuk says. Then he hesitates. "Anything that's not 'watching me sleep'. No watching me sleep."

Changkyun giggles —  _ giggles! —  _ and nods. Hyungwon feels like he's in a fever dream. Maybe he is. Maybe he'll wake up and everything will be back to normal, and his life will be blissfully sans demon.

For now, though, his reality is  _ this. _

"Thank you, Minhyuk," Changkyun sing-songs out, sounding for all the world like an innocent child being tucked into bed. "Thank you, Wonnie."

Hyungwon doesn't recall giving Changkyun permission to use his nickname, but he's finding it hard to point this out when Changkyun's looking at him like that, wide-eyed and impossibly earnest, peering out from beneath a flowery pink blanket.

"Yeah, okay," Hyungwon mumbles half-heartedly. "Goodnight, Changkyun."

Changkyun nuzzles himself further into the pillow, eyes fluttering shut. One of his hands curls into a loose fist around the top edge of the blanket, tugging it up closer to his chin. Hyungwon feels a jolt of something in his chest that he doesn't quite think is fear.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Hyungwon has a reputation for being impossible to wake in the mornings, but that's really only because he has insomnia and wakes up far too many times in the night. Most of these times, he's only semi-awake and extremely groggy, but it's enough disruption to his sleep that it affects his ability to get up in the mornings.

The point being — Hyungwon tends to stumble out to the kitchen in the middle of the night, still half-asleep and half-blind without his glasses. Most nights, he just gets himself a glass of water, drinks it, and fumbles his way back to bed. 

This night, however — Hyungwon's standing at the kitchen counter, pouring out a glass of water from the plastic jug they keep in the fridge, eyelids drooping shut, and then:

"Are you sleepwalking?"

Hyungwon jumps, jerking the jug in his hand, and water splashes everywhere. "Fuck," he hisses, heart thumping as his eyes adjust to the darkness and he sees Changkyun, staring at him from over the back of the sofa. Hyungwon scowls and sets the water jug down. "What did we say about watching us?"

"You said not to watch you sleep," Changkyun replies, "but you're not asleep right now, so it's okay."

Hyungwon purses his lips. He doesn't appreciate the distinction of semantics. "Still — don't scare me like that."

Changkyun does, at least, have the grace to look apologetic. "Sorry," he mumbles, "I didn't mean to. I was just getting bored, and then you came out of your room, and I thought if you were awake maybe we could talk."

And Changkyun looks so hopeful that Hyungwon can't quite bring himself to shoot him down completely. He wads up some kitchen towel and chucks it down on the spilt water, before walking around the sofa to stand next to Changkyun. 

"Are you gonna make some space for me to sit, or what?" he asks, gesturing at the blanket spread out across the sofa.

It takes Changkyun a moment, but then he's grinning and excitedly collecting up the blanket and pillow so Hyungwon can sit down. Which Hyungwon does, with as much dignity as he can muster. He takes a long, slow drink of his water.

"So," he says, "why are you awake?"

Changkyun shrugs, wrapping the blanket around himself like a cocoon. "I told you, I don't need much sleep — an hour or so a week is plenty."

"So you don't even need to sleep every night?" Hyungwon stares at Changkyun in surprise. "Why didn't you tell us that?"

"Because," Changkyun says. He rests his chin on his knees. "I didn't want Minhyuk to feel like he had to stay up and keep me company."

Hyungwon raises an eyebrow at him. "You're making  _ me  _ stay up now and keep you company, though."

Changkyun's eyes widen. "No, I'm not!" he says defensively. "I just thought, if you were already awake — you can go back to bed if you want—"

Hyungwon laughs, shaking his head. "I'm just kidding," he says, and Changkyun falls silent. "I have insomnia anyway. I can stay up for a bit to talk."

There's the faintest hint of a pout on Changkyun's lips, but he accepts Hyungwon's offer to stay with grace. Hyungwon finishes his water and puts his glass down on the coffee table. In the darkness of the night time, it's somehow easier to talk to Changkyun. Like the real world is in suspense, and they're existing in some liminal space where a human and a demon can just sit next to each other on a ratty old sofa and talk like friends, and there's nothing weird about that.

"So, what do you do?" Changkyun asks, after a pause. "You said Minhyuk was studying the occult. What about you?"

Hyungwon shrugs. "This and that," he replies, non-committedly. "I haven't quite figured it out. In the meantime I do a bit of modelling."

"Modelling," Changkyun repeats, like he's trying the word out for size in his mouth. "What is that?"

It hadn't even occurred to Hyungwon that Changkyun wouldn't be overly familiar with most elements of modern human living. He considers the question for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain it. "I guess I wear fancy clothes and let people take pictures of me, for other people to look at."

Changkyun furrows his brow. "Weird," he says. Then he turns to Hyungwon. "Is it because you're pretty?"

Hyungwon chokes on his spit. "Excuse me?"

"You're pretty," Changkyun says again, as if Hyungwon hadn't heard him the first time. "Nice to look at. Surely you must be aware of this."

"I — I guess," Hyungwon mumbles. He's used to receiving compliments, but it feels different coming from Changkyun. Probably because Changkyun was a demon — who even knew demons had standards of beauty that were in any way to similar to human standards?

In any case, it's kind of uncomfortable, but Changkyun just keeps staring at him like he's trying to figure something out.

Hyungwon makes a face and turns away from Changkyun. "Why are you looking at me like that?" 

"Your aura," replies Changkyun. "It's a funny colour."

Hyungwon can feel his cheeks heating up underneath the intense scrutiny. "Yeah?" he asks, trying to keep his voice level. “What colour is it?”

Changkyun tilts his head to one side as he studies Hyungwon carefully. His tongue pokes out the corner of his mouth. “Like, a pale pink,” he says, "a little purplish."

Hyungwon’s heart is jammed up in his throat. When he speaks, his voice comes out all wheezy. “What — what does that mean?”

“Dunno.” Changkyun looks away from Hyungwon, easily nonchalant. He rearranges the blanket around himself, spreading it over his lap, and then throwing half of it over Hyungwon as well. Their knees knock together. “It’s pretty, though. Like you.”

Hyungwon scratches behind one ear awkwardly. “Okay,” he says, “thank you, I guess.”

“You said it was just for now, though — the modelling,” Changkyun says, switching the topic of conversation with fluidity, “what do you want to do after?”

“No idea.” Hyungwon graduated with a generic media degree two years ago, and he’s still floating around, not quite sure what he’s doing with his life. He picks at a loose thread in the stitching of the blanket. 

Changkyun nudges him with his shoulder, making Hyungwon look up in surprise. The faint glow of the moonlight and the street lamps outside the window illuminates the planes of Changkyun’s face. It makes him look — ethereal. Almost angelic. Funny, that.

“You’ll figure it out,” Changkyun says, gentle but sure. “You’re adaptable. Just look at how quickly you adapted to me being here.”

Hyungwon can’t help but huff out a small laugh. That’s certainly one way of putting it.

“You’re adaptable too,” he replies, bumping his shoulder back against Changkyun’s, “you’re freaking out much less than I would if I’d realised I was stuck on a different plane of existence.”

This draws a coy smirk from Changkyun. “I know,” he says, positively glowing with pride. “It helps that it’s nice here. Humans are nice.”

“Hah,” Hyungwon says. “Not all humans. Trust me.”

Changkyun turns to look at Hyungwon. His face has suddenly gone quite serious. “You guys are nice,” he says, quietly.  _ “You’re _ nice.”

That really shouldn’t make Hyungwon’s heart rate go helter-skelter, but somehow — it does. He licks his lips nervously. His entire mouth has gone desert dry.

“Your aura,” Changkyun whispers, “it’s pink again.”

Hyungwon breathes shallowly. He feels like his lungs can’t fully expand. Time is stretched out like a rubberband, and he doesn’t know how long he just sits there, staring at Changkyun, the two of them curled up in the quiet dark beneath a soft, flowery blanket.

In the end, it’s Changkyun who blinks away first. He leans back into the sofa. Hyungwon leans back with him, pulling his legs up to his chest. His heart is hammering against his ribcage.

“I’m sorry that you’re stuck here,” he says. 

Changkyun doesn’t move, except to sort of jerk his shoulders slightly in a rough approximation of a shrug. He has his head tipped back, and he’s staring pensively at the ceiling. “I like being here,” he says. It sounds a little like he’s speaking to himself. 

"Will your — I don't know, demon friends — will they miss you?" 

Changkyun looks at Hyungwon out of the side of his eye. The corner of his lip twitches in amusement. "Probably," he says, "though maybe not yet. Sometimes demons are gone for  _ ages  _ after a summoning, sometimes they're back in the blink of an eye. It's not a big deal."

He sounds a little sad. Hyungwon doesn’t know how to comfort someone without touching them. Would a demon appreciate an arm around his shoulder? Hyungwon isn't sure. He blinks stupidly at Changkyun. 

“We'll get you back home,” he says, even though he has no way of knowing that they’ll be able to do any such thing. He'll do everything it takes to figure it out, though. “I promise."

Changkyun smiles at him. It's a warm, genuine smile, and it for some reason takes Hyungwon aback. 

"I know you will," Changkyun says, "I'm not worried."

  
  


* * *

  
  


When Hyungwon wakes up again, the room is bright. There's a thin blanket draped over his shoulders, and he's snuggled up to something warm and soft. 

And there's shouting. Someone is shouting.

"I can't believe you guys are  _ cuddling!" _

It's Minhyuk. Minhyuk is shouting.

Hyungwon cracks an eye open. Why is Minhyuk shouting?

"We're not cuddling, Wonnie fell asleep on my shoulder and I didn't want to wake him," Changkyun says, and that's right, there's absolutely no cuddling going on.

Then Hyungwon blinks to himself. Hang on a minute—

He shifts, and yep — he definitely has his head on Changkyun's shoulder and one arm thrown across Changkyun's waist. 

"Ahh!" he screams, scrambling backwards. "What the  _ fuck?" _

Changkyun looks at him. "We were talking last night and you fell asleep," he explains calmly. "Don't worry, I made it a point to make sure I  _ didn't  _ watch you sleep. Like I promised!" Changkyun sounds incredibly proud of himself. 

Minhyuk gapes at Hyungwon, both hands pressed against his chest like he's discovered a massive betrayal. "You guys were  _ talking?"  _ he gasps with exaggerated dismay.  _ "Without me?" _

"I just came to get some water and Changkyun was awake," Hyungwon says. He combs his hands through his hair self-consciously, trying to figure out if he has bed-head and, if so, how to remedy it without a mirror.

"Were you talking about demon stuff?" Minhyuk asks. "You better not have been talking about demon stuff!"

Changkyun shakes his head. "We weren't talking for long before Wonnie fell asleep," he assures Minhyuk. "He drooled on me a little bit."

Minhyuk pulls a face, sticking his tongue out. "On  _ my hoodie?" _

Hyungwon ignores him. "Wait, how long was I asleep for?" he asks Changkyun.

"I don't know, like — five hours?"

"Five hours?" Hyungwon had been expecting him to say one, maybe two. "You let me sleep on you for  _ five hours?" _

Changkyun nods enthusiastically. "You just looked so peaceful."

Hyungwon narrows his eyes at Changkyun. "I thought you said you  _ didn't  _ watch me sleep."

Changkyun's eyes widen, but he doesn't say anything. His hands fly up to cover his mouth, and he giggles like he's just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Hyungwon picks up Changkyun's pillow with an anguished groan, and buries his face in it.

  
  


* * *

  
  


"I really wish you had just let me smother myself to death with the pillow," Hyungwon says, not bothering to hide how disgruntled he feels. 

Minhyuk shushes him, loudly, defeating the entire purpose of shushing him. "We're in a  _ library,"  _ he stage-whispers aggressively, "you have to be  _ quiet!" _

Changkyun's wandering ahead of them with his head tipped up towards the towering shelves. "I've never been in a library before," he says, with undisguised awe, "wow!"

He's so enraptured, even Hyungwon has to admit that it's kind of cute.

"Do you not have libraries where you come from?" he asks, walking up beside Changkyun while Minhyuk continues the seemingly endless attempt to locate the book in question. (They're in an old section of the library, and the cataloguing system is, to say the least, a little out of date.)

Changkyun shakes his head. "When we need information we just go to one of the members of the Enquiry Council," he explains. "You ask them your question and they give you your answer."

"Like, Google," Hyungwon says, before he can stop himself. Of course Changkyun has no idea what Google is.

But Changkyun just smiles at him. "Sure," he says, "you can call it whatever you want."

Hyungwon bites down on a laugh. Changkyun can be so earnest, sometimes. "It sounds more efficient than this, anyway," he says, gesturing over to where Minhyuk is attempting to count to the fifty-third book from the left on the fifth shelf down.

"Hey, are we sure this is the eighth row of shelves?" Hyungwon asks. They'd wandered along the stacks in this section of the library, accidentally counting down in row seven earlier.

"Yes, I'm sure," snaps Minhyuk in irritation, before continuing, "fifty-one, fifty-two, a-ha!" He yanks a thick, leather-bound tome out of the shelf, and attempts to brandish it in the air. As it is, the book seems quite heavy, and so Minhyuk just ends up sort of staggering about on the spot, lugging it in his arms like a baby.

"Here it is," Minhyuk declares, dropping it unceremoniously onto the ground between them and going to his knees in front of it. He starts flipping frantically through the pages. Changkyun takes a seat across from him, and Hyungwon begrudgingly follows. Why couldn't they have gone to a table? Why are they sitting on the floor?

No time for questions of practicality, though, because Minhyuk is turning the book and pushing it towards Changkyun. "That's the spell I used," he says, pointing at a section of intricate wording that takes up a good half of the page. 

_ "A simple summoning ritual to call forth a harmless demon," _ Hyungwon reads out. "Okay, great — now where's the counter-spell?"

Changkyun's running one finger down the page, scan-reading with remarkable speed. He flips to the next page before Hyungwon's even had a chance to finish reading the instructions, and continues skimming rapidly through the dense passages of information there.

"If it's just a simple summoning spell, shouldn't it be easy to send him back as well?" Hyungwon asks, looking up at Minhyuk. He figures Changkyun will have better luck finding the right bits of information than either of them.

"You're telling me," Minhyuk replies. "I mean — I didn't even think the summoning would work in the first place."

"Ahem," Changkyun says. He stabs at a passage in the middle of the following page, written in delicate, fine, writing. Hyungwon leans in closer to squint at it.

_ "Even though this summoning ritual is very simple, it requires a home-going ritual to be done to enable the demon to return to their home plane. This can be found in the section on home-going rituals," _ Hyungwon reads out. He shoots Minhyuk a withering glare. "You didn't even flip the page to read the rest of the notes?"

Minhyuk grins sheepishly. "Oops," he says. "In my defence, there were  _ so many  _ words, and in such  _ fine print." _

"Not a defence," Hyungwon snaps. He helps Changkyun locate the relevant section in the book, and then the correct spell. It looks, thankfully, fairly simple. Hyungwon shoves the book at Minhyuk with instructions to go photocopy the page, and the two pages before and after it as well, for good measure. Minhyuk looks like he wants to object to the fact the he's the one being given this task, but then seems to think better of it, and cradles the book in his arms as he stumbles off towards the photocopying room.

Hyungwon sighs, leaning back against the shelves and attempting to stretch his legs out in front of him. The aisle is cramped, though, and he has to keep his knees bent. Changkyun leans against the opposite set of shelves, cross-legged.

"I'm going home!" Changkyun whispers. He smiles, close-lipped, and his cheeks dimple, right above the corners of his mouth. "Finally!"

Hyungwon frowns. "Yeah," he says, "I guess you are."

  
  


* * *

  
  


Hyungwon leaves Minhyuk in charge of setting up the ritual. He knows nothing about demonic rituals, to begin with, but aside from that — he's feeling a little weird about sending Changkyun back. It's not entirely dissimilar, Hyungwon thinks, to getting attached to a stray dog you've found that turns out to belong to someone else. It's just a _shame _that Changkyun has to leave, that's all.

"Are you looking forward to going back?" Hyungwon asks, as Changkyun fiddles with the sleeve of Minhyuk's hoodie. 

Changkyun startles slightly, like he'd forgotten Hyungwon was there. He chews on his bottom lip — yet another oddly human quirk. 

"I guess so," Changkyun says, but he doesn't sound certain. He glances over at where Minhyuk is hunched over the protective tarp sheet he'd laid down, carefully tracing out a pentagram in salt. "I mean, it'll be nice to know that I can go home, of course," he says, firmly. "But, I don't know — it's quite fun, being in the human world."

Hyungwon quirks an eyebrow at Changkyun. The human world may be the only world Hyungwon's ever experienced, but he's still fairly sure that it's terrible. Although, it's been oddly enjoyable having Changkyun around. Interesting, at the very least.

Changkyun seems to get his meaning, though, because he laughs, giving his fringe a self-conscious ruffle. "No, seriously, I like being here," he says. Shoots Hyungwon a sideways glance. "Maybe I'll come back to visit."

"Can you do that?" Hyungwon asks, a little too quickly. He coughs to disguise his discomfort. "I mean — hypothetically. Is that something that can be done?"

Changkyun shrugs. "Most demons can't come to the human world without being summoned," he says, "and with the usual summoning rituals it's kind of random, who you get."

"Ah, okay." Hyungwon tries to tamp down the disappointment that rises up in him. He doesn't particularly fancy attempting to summon random demons, on the off-chance he might get Changkyun.

_ Not _ that he has any plans to try and summon Changkyun again, of course. It's just hypothetical.

"There  _ are  _ some more complicated rituals, though," Changkyun adds, slowly. He glances at Hyungwon cautiously, like he's not sure if he should keep talking. "If you know a demon's name, you could summon them specifically."

Hyungwon thinks back to Changkyun's nausea-inducing attempts at telling them his name. He feels like his eardrums are throbbing at the mere memory of it. "Right," he says, warily, "your name…"

Changkyun snickers. "I could write it down for you," he offers, correctly guessing the reason for Hyungwon's hesitation. "Minhyuk could learn the spell."

"Yeah," Hyungwon replies. He turns back to Minhyuk, who's now on his hands and knees, furiously scattering dried rosemary in one point of the pentagram. "Will he be able to do it, though?"

Changkyun knocks into Hyungwon's shoulder with his own. When Hyungwon turns to look at him, there's a small smile on his face, and a soft, open look in his eyes. "He managed to summon me this time, didn't he?" 

Hyungwon finds himself, despite everything, smiling back.

  
  


* * *

  
  


"Okay, I think we're done," Minhyuk announces. He beckons Changkyun over. "Come stand in the centre of the circle, please."

Changkyun hops up quickly, shooting Hyungwon a close-lipped grin that Hyungwon just can't quite decipher. 

"Okay, let's do this," Changkyun says, tiptoeing across the lines of salt. He rocks back and forth on his heels in the centre of the circle. Hyungwon wonders if Minhyuk's clothes will disappear with him when he goes, or if they'll just fall in a puddle to the floor.

Minhyuk peers down at the sheets of paper in his hands. "Now I have to say the incantation," he mumbles to himself, sounding unsure and not inspiring a lot of confidence.

Hyungwon looks down at the scrap of paper in his hands. Changkyun had scribbled something onto it, an utterly incomprehensible mess of dots and dashes and wiggly lines that is apparently Changkyun’s real name. He doesn't have the slightest clue how they might use this to summon Changkyun back again.  _ If  _ there's even a way to do that, and even if there is,  _ if  _ they’re even able to figure it out. So many  _ ifs. _

All of a sudden, his chest feels tight.

"Wait," Hyungwon says, leaping to his feet. Changkyun cocks his head at him in an unspoken question. Minhyuk turns back, looking bemused.

Hyungwon flattens out the creases in his shirt for something to do with his hands. "Um," he says. "I just — isn't this sort of anti-climatic?"

Minhyuk squints at Hyungwon. "I'm sorry, do you want me to put on my ritual cloak?"

"No," Hyungwon says, quickly. He’s almost a hundred percent certain Minhyuk is joking, but knowing Minhyuk there’s still a non-zero chance that he's mere seconds away from producing a spangled velvet cloak from his closet. "I mean, shouldn't we, I don’t know — say a few words?"

This makes Minhyuk squint at him even harder. "Like...a funeral?"

Changkyun gasps. "Funerals, I love funerals!" he cries out excitedly. Minhyuk and Hyungwon turn to stare at him, and in response, his face slowly falls. "Ah, is that one of the ones that's sad for humans? I always forget."

Minhyuk grimaces as Hyungwon suppresses a laugh. Changkyun catches his eye and winks at him. Hyungwon wonders if Changkyun had genuinely forgotten that funerals were sad, or if he was just trying to draw a laugh out of them.

"Anyway," Minhyuk says, "I guess we can say a few words. I’ll start.” Then he clears his throat, and begins speaking with great pomp and circumstance. "Changkyun — you are the first demon I ever summoned. You have a totally bonkers sense of humour, and I deeply appreciate that. Thank you for visiting us."

Changkyun giggles, his hands flying to his cheeks. "That's so sweet, thank you," he says, and then he's treading gingerly out of the pentagram again to give Minhyuk a hug. When he pulls away, Hyungwon thinks he sees the faintest glimmer of tears in Minhyuk's eyes — but maybe he's just projecting.

Both Changkyun and Minhyuk are looking at him now. Hyungwon licks his lips to moisten them. This was a bad idea, he thinks.  _ Why  _ on earth did he suggest they say a few words? Oh yes, because he wasn't ready to see Changkyun go. And also because he's an idiot.

"Uh," Hyungwon starts. Minhyuk raises one disdainful eyebrow, but Changkyun just beams at him, eager and waiting. 

This might very well be the last thing he'll ever get to say to Changkyun. Hyungwon sure as  _ heavens _ isn't going to mess it up.

"To be perfectly honest, I wasn't the happiest to hear that Minhyuk had summoned a demon," Hyungwon starts. Changkyun laughs lightly, and it's oddly encouraging, so he soldiers on. "But, Changkyun — you've been very nice to have around. You're easy to talk to, and you make me smile. I'll miss you."

“Aww, wow,” says Minhyuk, staring at Hyungwon in mild surprise, “when did you get so attached?”

Hyungwon attempts to fashion his expression into a scowl, but all he feels at that moment is — sad. “I’m not attached,” he grumbles, “I barely said anything.” Minhyuk gives him a knowing look, but doesn’t push it, for which Hyungwon is grateful.

Changkyun is still standing there, right in front of him, beaming brighter than the sun. Hyungwon wonders if he should give Changkyun a hug. Changkyun was the one who initiated the hug with Minhyuk, though. Why isn’t Changkyun hugging him?

“Is it my turn to say something now?” Changkyun asks.

_ Okay, _ Hyungwon thinks.  _ No hug for me then.  _ That’s fine — he’s not bitter about that at all.

Minhyuk waves Changkyun on. “If we’re sticking with the funeral analogy, the deceased doesn’t usually make a speech, but — sure. Go ahead.”

Changkyun rubs at the back of his neck, gaze dropping down to his feet. “I just — I don’t know,” he mumbles, wrinkling up his nose. Then he raises his gaze to Hyungwon, and the jolt of electricity that Hyungwon feels when their eyes meet — that really, really shouldn’t be happening. He swallows tightly.

“You guys are the first humans I ever met,” Changkyun continues, with great seriousness. He’s staring very intently into Hyungwon’s eyes now, and it’s making something strange crackle beneath Hyungwon’s skin but he can’t bring himself to look away. “And I really hope I get to see you again. But whether or not that happens, I want you to know — I will never forget you.”

“Changkyun—” Hyungwon says, helplessly. 

Changkyun smiles at him, and his cheeks dimple, and then he’s flinging himself into Hyungwon’s arms for a hug. Hyungwon wraps his arms around Changkyun, buries his face half in Changkyun’s shoulder and half in his hair. He’s sad. He’s really, really fucking  _ sad. _

When he pulls away, he feels a little adrift. “What colour is my aura now?” he asks.

“Blue,” Changkyun says, “very blue. And a little bit of pink.”

Sounds about right. 

Hyungwon pats Changkyun on the head. It’s awkward, and stupid, but it makes Changkyun laugh, so that’s okay. Changkyun steps back into the middle of the pentagram. He waves brightly at Hyungwon, and Minhyuk.

Minhyuk casts Hyungwon an uncertain gaze. Hyungwon purses his lips, nods at Minhyuk firmly. No point dragging this out. He keeps his eyes trained on Changkyun as Minhyuk recites the incantation, refusing to even blink. Archaic latin-esque words spill past Minhyuk’s lips, the cadence of his reading rising and rising—

Until he finishes, with a shout—

And a dramatic flourish of his hand—

And—

Nothing happens.

  
  


* * *

  
  


“For the  _ last time,  _ I didn’t do anything wrong!” 

Minhyuk chucks the sheets of photocopied spell instructions onto the coffee table. They've spent the entire day trying to figure out why the ritual isn't working, and Minhyuk's clearly close to losing his mind. The one hour he'd spent upending his box of crystals desperately trying to find the 'source of contamination' had been a particular low point.

On the bright side: Changkyun is still here.

(That's not supposed to be a bright side, but Hyungwon has admitted to himself that it is.)

"I know, I know," Hyungwon says to Minhyuk, placatingly. "Why don't we all take a break for the day? Come at it with fresh eyes tomorrow."

Minhyuk just groans and flops weakly into the sofa, face down. "I'm having a crisis of confidence," he cries out, voice muffled into the cushions.

"Okay, we're putting you to bed right now." Hyungwon rolls Minhyuk off the sofa and onto his feet, ushering him in the direction of his bedroom. Minhyuk tries to pick up the photocopies of the ritual book and bring them with him, but Hyungwon carefully picks them out of his hands and places them back down on the coffee table.

When he comes back out into the living room, Changkyun is right where he'd left him, sitting on the floor between the sofa and the coffee table, knees pulled up to his chest. He's staring blankly at the crumpled sheets of paper on the coffee table.

"Hey," Hyungwon says, sitting down on the sofa. His knees bump against Changkyun's shoulder. "Sorry we didn't manage to get you back home."

Changkyun looks up at him slowly, and leans his head against Hyungwon's knee. Hyungwon feels like his entire body freezes up at the contact. Changkyun looks blissfully unaffected. "Maybe I'll just have to stay here forever," he says.

"You don't want that," Hyungwon replies.

"Really?" Changkyun sighs, and closes his eyes. "Would it be so bad?"

Hyungwon has a sudden, insane urge to run his fingers through Changkyun's hair. Maybe see if he can find the little nubs of Changkyun's horns again. He clenches his hands into fists on his knees.

"You'll miss your demon friends."

Changkyun doesn't move. Not even a twitch. Hyungwon is starting to wonder if he's fallen asleep and not heard Hyungwon's response, when:

"I'll miss someone, no matter where I am."

And that — that's...not something Hyungwon can think about right now. 

He knows that Changkyun will miss him, had been told as much during the awkward speeches of earlier that day, but this feels — different. Less like a statement. 

More like a confession.

"I should go to bed," Hyungwon says, tightly, even though the last thing he wants to do right now is move. Not when Changkyun's head is pillowed against his thigh, and he's breathing so softly and evenly like he's asleep. But this is dangerous. Minhyuk is right. He's getting attached. 

Changkyun lifts his head, perches his chin on Hyungwon's knee. He blinks up at Hyungwon through thick lashes and his floppy fringe. This is worse. Much, much worse.

"Can I come with you?" Changkyun asks. "I won't watch you sleep, I'll sit in a corner and be quiet, I promise."

One day ago, that had been all that Hyungwon wanted — for Changkyun to sit in a corner and leave him alone. Twenty-four hours later, and Hyungwon's getting greedy.

He touches the side of Changkyun's head, smoothing down his silky black hair. 

He's weak. No self-control whatsoever. 

"Yeah, okay," he says. "Why not?" 

There are probably a thousand reasons why not. Hyungwon can't think of a single one right now. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


"Are you really going to just sit there?"

Changkyun stares at Hyungwon from where he's sitting, curled up on the floor, in the gap between Hyungwon's desk and the wall.

"I said I'd sit in a corner," Changkyun says. "This is a corner."

"Are you being insufferable on purpose?" Hyungwon waves Changkyun over. "You don't  _ actually  _ have to sit in a corner."

Changkyun unfolds himself and flings himself onto Hyungwon's bed in one smooth motion, where he perches in a low squat, beaming at Hyungwon. "This okay, then?" he asks, looking far too pleased with himself.

Hyungwon pulls a face but shuffles to the side on his bed so that they can both sit side by side with their backs against the wall. "Why do I get the feeling that this was all part of an elaborate ruse to get me to share my bed?"

"Because you're paranoid," Changkyun replies, without missing a beat. He stretches his legs out in front of him, feet sticking out past the side of the bed. Their shoulders are pressed against each other. Changkyun wiggles his toes, and Hyungwon snorts out a laugh.

"You know," Changkyun says, after a moment of the two of them just giggling over nothing, "I didn't want to say this before, but — I might have a way to get back home."

Hyungwon goes silent. "Yeah?" he replies, not looking at Changkyun. "What is that?"

"You know how I said demons can't come to the human world at will? And they need to be summoned?"

Hyungwon hums and nods. Of course he remembers. Stupid magic and its stupid rules.

"Well, the thing is — most demons can't, but some can — it just takes time to learn, and then ages to get licensed—" Changkyun scrubs his hands across his face. "Point is, Kihyun hyung can travel between planes without a summoning. If I sent a message to him, he could come here and help us find a way to get me back."

Kihyun. The name sounds familiar —

Hyungwon gives Changkyun a horrified look. "Isn't Kihyun the demon who you said would eat our souls?"

Changkyun barely manages to bite down on a laugh. "Oh, I guess I did say that," he concedes. "Well, he technically  _ could _ eat your souls, but he probably won't. He's nice. Even if he seems scary at first."

This is not much comfort to Hyungwon. "And you  _ have  _ to call this Kihyun demon here?" he asks, warily. "Not some other, non-human soul-eating demon?"

"Nope!" Changkyun smirks at Hyungwon. "Don't worry, I'll tell Ki not to eat your soul — as long as you're nice to me."

Hyungwon gives Changkyun a playful shove, which causes him to topple sideways onto the bed, clutching his arm in exaggerated dismay. "I'm being attacked!" he whines, "Kihyunnie, come feast on this innocent mortal's soul!"

"Shut up, you're so annoying," Hyungwon complains, but he's laughing, and so is Changkyun. Who's also lying back on his bed, head on his pillow, hair haloed around him and cheeks pink with amusement.

Dangerous.

Very dangerous.

"So, um," Hyungwon says, coughing and looking away, "this Kihyun person — demon. Is he like, a close friend? Family member?"

Or, perhaps, a lover?

Do demons even have lovers? Hyungwon doesn't know how to ask the question without laying himself bare. Never mind the fact that he's trying not to think about  _ why _ he even wants to know.

"He's just the best," Changkyun says, unhelpfully, shedding no light on the situation. Curiosity gnaws at Hyungwon. Changkyun doesn't seem to have noticed. "He's the love of my life," he declares, happily, grinning up from where he's still lying on Hyungwon's pillow. This is pure torture.

"Ah," Hyungwon says. He thinks he sound nonchalant. Does he sound nonchalant? "So, like — your demon lover, then?"

Changkyun's eyes widen, and his face twists into an expression of disgust.  _ "What?" _ he shrieks. "Ew, no, definitely not. Gross."

Hyungwon tries not to smile but he can't help it. He bites down on his lower lip. "Right," he says, and even to his own ears he sounds unduly pleased. Whatever. Just bite the bullet and ask, for crying out loud.

"Do demons even have lovers?"

Changkyun gives Hyungwon a look, like,  _ 'really?'. _

"Duh," he says. He stretches his arms overhead, and his hoodie — Minhyuk's hoodie — rides up. Hyungwon drags his eyes away from the sliver exposed skin along Changkyun's waist. Then Changkyun extends his legs and throws them across Hyungwon's lap. It's all very overwhelming. Hyungwon feels his throat go dry.

"Do — do  _ you _ have a demon lover?"

He's losing his mind. This is it. He's absolutely losing his mind. What the  _ fuck _ is he doing?

Changkyun tilts his head to one side, a single eyebrow arching. "Why?" he asks, dragging out the syllable like he  _ knows. _

"Just because," Hyungwon replies, as flatly and emotionlessly as he can manage. "Curiosity."

Changkyun smirks at Hyungwon like he doesn't believe him, but lets it go and answers the question instead. "No demon lover for me," he says, slipping his hands beneath his head and looking up at Hyungwon from beneath hooded lids. "I did make out with Hyunwoo hyung once, though."

Okay, who the  _ fuck _ is Hyunwoo now? Hyungwon presses his lips together and tries not to scowl.

"It was good — Hyunwoo hyung is like, really hot," Changkyun continues, with no regard for Hyungwon's nerves. He looks like he's having far too much fun. "But it was kinda weird, and besides — he's going out with a human."

Hyungwon freezes. He blinks down at Changkyun. "What do you mean, he's going out with a human?"

"I don't know, he won't say much," Changkyun replies breezily. "I just know he got summoned one day and when he came back he was dating this guy. He goes to the human world really often to see him. It's kinda sweet, actually."

"I don't — I didn't," Hyungwon starts, then stops, tripping over his words. "I didn't know humans and demons could...date?"

"Oh yeah, happens all the time." Changkyun turns slightly onto his side, folding one forearm beneath his cheek. His knees brush against Hyungwon's stomach. "The summonings — I said they were random, and they are, but that's not the full story. We don't how it works, but demons tend to get summoned to places where they have a strong connection. Like, Hyunwoo hyung meeting his boyfriend, or when Taehyung was summoned by this dancer who's now his best friend — it's not always the case, but often."

Hyungwon stares at Changkyun. Has he always been aware of this? Has he been looking for the reason why he was the one called here?

"And you?" Hyungwon asks, haltingly. Uncertain. He can hear his pulse thrumming beneath his skin. Time grinds to a standstill. "Why are you here?"

Changkyun goes silent. He studies Hyungwon for a long — impossibly long, endlessly long — moment.

"I don't know," he says, finally, "You tell me."

  
  


* * *

  
  


Hyungwon is an idiot. 

Or a coward.

Or both. Probably both.

Because people who aren't idiot-cowards don't respond to the person they're attracted to — yes, Hyungwon can begrudgingly admit that to himself now — possibly flirting with them by doing what Hyungwon did.

Which was to burst out in nervous laughter, and say: "Maybe you should date Minhyuk, then!" 

Followed by more nervous laughter.

Changkyun just looked at him funny, and replied, "If you say so."

They haven't spoken since. Hyungwon has his hands resting on the tops of Changkyun's shins. Changkyun's eyes are closed, like he's asleep. Hyungwon knows he probably isn't, but it's hard not to think that he is, when Changkyun's inhaling and exhaling so evenly and slowly.

When Changkyun speaks, Hyungwon jumps.

"I thought it was rude to watch people sleep."

Hyungwon grimaces. Changkyun's eyes are still shut, and he hasn't moved an inch, but there's a smirk playing on his lips. 

"You're not asleep, so it doesn't count," Hyungwon replies. He rubs his thumb against Changkyun's shin through his sweatpants. There are alarm bells ringing in his head. He ignores them.

Changkyun reaches one hand out, circling Hyungwon's wrist. His fingers graze along Hyungwon's skin. It feels like firecrackers. 

"If you go to sleep," Changkyun asks, "can I stay here?"

_ You can stay anywhere you want, _ Hyungwon thinks.

"Are you going to watch me?" he says.

Changkyun smiles. "No," he replies. "I just want to be with you."

"Yeah," Hyungwon says, breathlessly, "me too."

  
  


* * *

  
  


"You're staring at me."

Hyungwon doesn't move or look away. "You're staring at me too."

The lights are off, Hyungwon's in his bed, and Changkyun's only inches away. If Hyungwon leaned forward just a fraction, their noses would brush. 

As it is, they're not touching at all.

Hyungwon feels electric.

"You know," Changkyun says, exhaling like a secret, "what you said earlier. About me dating Minhyuk?"

Minhyuk's the last thing Hyungwon wants to talk about now. "Mm," he says, not blinking. It also feels like he's stopped breathing.

"Minhyuk's not the one I want to date."

Hyungwon pokes his tongue out to moisten his bottom lip, digging his teeth in ever so slightly. His heart has leapt up into his throat. Something coils, tight and searingly hot, in his core.

"No?" he whispers back.

"No," says Changkyun. 

Hyungwon tips his head forward. Their noses brush. He can feel the warm puff of Changkyun's breath against his lips. 

"You aura," Changkyun says, "it's — pink. Red."

"Yes," Hyungwon replies. "I know."

And then he leans in, and kisses Changkyun.

  
  


* * *

  
  


"You look like a wreck," says Minhyuk, when Hyungwon comes stumbling out of his room the next morning. Changkyun is already sitting at the dining table, gleefully feasting on Fruit Loops. "Did you even sleep last night?"

Hyungwon can feel the blood rushing to the surface of his skin. "Uh," he says, brain still too sleep-addled to come up with an intelligent response, "what?"

"Good morning!" greets Changkyun brightly. He slides the box of Fruit Loops over towards Hyungwon, who's making his way into the kitchen and trying his hardest not to be looked at. "Fancy a Fruit Loop?"

"Thanks," Hyungwon mumbles in response. He grabs a bowl and spoon from the cupboard, and sinks into a seat at the kitchen table without looking at Changkyun. 

Minhyuk narrows his eyes at Hyungwon. "You're being weird," he says. "Why are you being weird?"

Hyungwon grimaces, but doesn't look up. He shakes some cereal into his bowl. He doesn't even like Fruit Loops, what is he doing?

"I'm not being weird," he says, a little too defensively, reaching for the milk. 

Changkyun goes to pick the milk carton up at the same time, and their fingers brush.

Hyungwon jerks back like he's been burnt. 

"Sorry!" Changkyun exclaims. He gestures for Hyungwon to take the milk.

"No, you go first."

"I was just getting you the milk," Changkyun replies. "You go ahead."

"That's it!" Minhyuk slams his palms down onto the table. Hyungwon jumps and knocks the box of Fruit Loops over with his elbow. It topples to the side, and five or six brightly coloured sugary loops spill out onto the dining table. Minhyuk doesn't even seem to notice. "Something is going on. What did you guys do?"

"Nothing!" Hyungwon shouts, already panicking. "We didn't do anything!"

Except for kiss, of course. And for quite a long time. There was also a lot of giggling and cuddling and then more kissing. At one point a little play wrestle had ended up with Changkyun straddling Hyungwon, and that had  _ very nearly  _ turned into  _ something, _ but other than that —  _ nothing! _

Hyungwon gives Minhyuk a sheepish grin. 

"I don't believe you," Minhyuk says. He turns his glare onto Changkyun. "Either of you. But until I figure out what's going on — we have a demon to summon."

Changkyun had apparently already informed Minhyuk of his plan to try and get his demon friend — who was, crucially,  _ not  _ his lover — to come and help them with their predicament. The prospect of getting to meet another demon sends Minhyuk into a fit of excited giggles.

"Are you not afraid of getting your soul sucked out and snacked on by this supposedly  _ more powerful  _ demon?"

Minhyuk shakes his head. "Have you seen me?" he asks. "I'm delightful! No demon would want to kill me."

Hyungwon highly doubts that, but he figures he could probably —  _ probably  _ — convince Changkyun to stop either of them from being annihilated. He leans back into the sofa, watches as Changkyun waves his hands about and mutters an incantation under his breath. 

"Hey," Minhyuk whispers, elbowing Hyungwon in the side. Hyungwon gives Minhyuk a disapproving look. Minhyuk just grins at him. "You kissed Changkyun, didn't you?"

Hyungwon coughs loudly. Changkyun shoots him a glare and shushes him fiercely.

"What?" Hyungwon hisses to Minhyuk, as quietly as he can while still conveying his anger. "How did you know that?"

Minhyuk beams. "Lucky guess," he replies, "and you just confirmed it."

All these years of friendship, and still Hyungwon can't help but fall for Minhyuk's tricks. "God, I hate you."

"We both know you don't," Minhyuk replies coolly. 

Hyungwon casts a glance over at Changkyun, who is now talking in hushed tones, like he's having a phone conversation with the void. He doesn't seem to be paying them any attention. 

"So," Minhyuk says, "how was it? Was it good? Do you like him?"

"That's — lot of questions."

"Just answer the last one, then — do you like him?" 

Hyungwon frowns. "He's a demon," he says.

Minhyuk raises both eyebrows at him. "That's not an answer."

Hyungwon watches as Changkyun's face breaks out into a brilliant smile, still chattering away to whatever demon he's found himself in contact with. He nods eagerly, clapping his hands together, before throwing his head back in a shout of laughter.

"I'm — drawn to him," Hyungwon says. That much, at least, is true.

And then Changkyun jumps to his feet. "Kihyun's here!" he exclaims.

The flat shakes with a resounding thunderclap.

  
  


* * *

  
  


"You're wearing a suit."

The new demon — Kihyun, Hyungwon assumes — gives Minhyuk a withering look. "Yes," he says, in a voice far deeper than his small frame would otherwise suggest. "Is there a problem with that?"

"No, sir." Minhyuk drops into a low, and overly-fanciful bow. Hyungwon resists the urge to smack his own palm against his forehead. Or maybe smack Minhyuk on the back of his head.

"Just that," Minhyuk continues, and for some reason he's adopted an exaggerated caricature of an accent that doesn't sound like anything Hyungwon's ever heard before, "when your, um — associate here," — at this, he gestures to Changkyun — "arrived, he was only in a suit of the, uh, shall we say, birthday variety."

Kihyun narrows his eyes at Minhyuk.

"That is to say," Minhyuk adds, because he doesn't know when to stop, "that he was naked."

"I know what a birthday suit is," Kihyun replies, icily. He redirects his attention to Changkyun. "Why did you turn up naked?"

Changkyun grins, a remarkable feat in the face of Kihyun's steely glare. "You said it was important to make an entrance," he says. "Like, you know, your thunderclap!  _ Boom boom!" _

Kihyun doesn't laugh, but a muscle in his cheek twitches. "That's not what my thunderclap sounds like," he says, flatly.

"Wait, hang on," Minhyuk pipes up, still lacking in any sort of self-preservation instinct whatsoever, but at least he's speaking in his normal voice, "you mean to tell me that demons  _ can  _ travel between planes without losing all their clothes?"

Kihyun looks at Minhyuk like he's just come across a particularly persistent mosquito and is deciding whether it's worth the effort trying to swat it. "Obviously," he says. "We're vastly powerful supernatural beings. Why would we have to travel naked?"

Minhyuk lets out a shout of indignation in Changkyun's general direction. "So the only reason why I had to see your dick was because you, I don't know — thought it would be  _ funny?"  _ He punctuates this by whacking Changkyun on the shoulder, hard.

"Hey," Kihyun says sharply, giving Minhyuk a warning look. Minhyuk ignores him and hits Changkyun again. Hyungwon mentally starts preparing his statement to the police when he has to explain why his roommate is dead. Does  _ 'killed by a demon' _ sound in any way plausible?

"But it  _ was  _ funny," whines Changkyun. He shoots Hyungwon a wink. 

Kihyun catches this wink, and narrows his eyes at Hyungwon in a way that's eerily reminiscent of this one, particularly stern, Maths teacher he had in primary school. Hyungwon shuffles involuntarily further away from Kihyun, half-hiding himself behind Minhyuk. If he has to use his best friend as a human shield against a demon attack, then so be it. It would only be what Minhyuk had coming all along.

"Enough chit-chat," Kihyun declares, sharply, and abruptly. "Kyunnie says you've tried to send him back and it hasn't worked. What spell did you use?"

_ Kyunnie.  _ Hyungwon files that one away for future reference. 

That is,  _ if  _ there is a future to speak of. He might never see Changkyun again, of course. What a cheery thought!

Hyungwon watches glumly as Minhyuk yanks a handful of wrinkled sheets of paper out of his pocket. He smoothes them down against his stomach, and presents the messy bundle to Kihyun with both hands, like he's offering up an animal sacrifice. 

"The ritual papers," Minhyuk declares, and  _ great  _ — the weird accent is back. Kihyun picks the papers out of Minhyuk's hand with an expression of extreme disdain, and proceeds to leaf through them, shrouded in a cloak of impenetrable silence. 

"I'm going to make some tea," Hyungwon announces to no one at all, excusing himself and heading into the kitchen. He sets the kettle on to boil, and stares despondently at the teabag in the bottom of his mug.

"Hey," comes a voice from right behind him. Hyungwon jumps, nearly knocking his mug clean off the counter. It makes a clattering noise, and Changkyun's hand whips out to catch it before it falls.

"You're clumsy," Changkyun says. He's standing way too close. Hyungwon can almost feel his heartbeat against his back. He twists round, leaning back against the counter. Changkyun is right up in his personal space.

"I wouldn't be so clumsy if you didn't scare me so much," Hyungwon replies. Changkyun smirks up at him, and Hyungwon is painfully aware of how easy it would be to kiss him right now. He thinks back to kissing Changkyun in bed, their bodies pressed together beneath the sheets. A shudder of desire ripples through his body.

"Maybe you're just jumpy around me," says Changkyun. He leans in a little closer, the fingers of one hand trailing up along Hyungwon's arm.

"Changkyun—" Hyungwon casts a desperate glance out of the kitchen, towards the living room, where he can see Minhyuk and Kihyun poring over the ritual instructions. Kihyun does  _ not _ look happy. Hyungwon gets the feeling that Kihyun would be even less happy to see the position that he and Changkyun are in.

Changkyun follows Hyungwon's gaze. "Don't worry about Ki," he says, "he's all bark and no bite."

_ Easy for you to say,  _ thinks Hyungwon. Kihyun obviously adores Changkyun. Of Minhyuk and Hyungwon, he seems markedly less fond.

"I just — I'm not sure this is a good idea—" Hyungwon can barely make out a coherent sentence. Changkyun has moved his hand to Hyungwon's side, is rubbing slow circles into his hip bone, with his head tipped up like he's going to lean in for a kiss.

Changkyun pouts. "It's fine," he whines, "what's the worst that could happen?"

Hyungwon could think of many, many  _ terrible _ things that could happen. All of them involving Kihyun and ending with the consumption of his soul. He looks over at where Minhyuk is flipping forcefully through the photocopied pages, pointing certain sections out to Kihyun. It sounds like Minhyuk is aggressively hissing, "I did everything  _ to the letter!" _

Then Kihyun's gaze flicks over to them, and Hyungwon's heart stops. Changkyun's just standing in front of him, albeit  _ right in front  _ of him, but they aren't doing anything. Still — Hyungwon feels like they've been caught in the act.

"Your — Kihyun — he's looking," Hyungwon whispers sharply, shoving Changkyun's hand off his hip.

Changkyun whips his head round. He catches Kihyun's gaze, and responds with a cheeky grin. Kihyun remains completely expressionless as he turns back to Minhyuk. 

"See, I told you — it's fine." Changkyun slips his hand out of Hyungwon's loose hold so that he can lace their fingers together.

But Hyungwon doesn't feel like it's fine, not yet. His gaze darts over to Kihyun again. Kihyun is saying something to Minhyuk, then turning towards the kitchen.

"You're so cute when you're flustered." Changkyun doesn't even seem to have noticed Kihyun approaching.

Hyungwon gives Changkyun a plaintive look. "Changkyun—" he starts. But he doesn't get to finish his sentence.

"Hyungwon-ssi?" Kihyun's standing by the kitchen table, staring placidly at the two of them. Changkyun gives Kihyun a look of confusion, which Kihyun ignores. He's only looking at, only addressing, Hyungwon. "Can I speak to you, for a moment? In private?"

This is it. He's going to be eaten by a demon. Goodbye, Changkyun. Goodbye, Hoseok and Jooheon. (Minhyuk doesn't get a goodbye because if Hyungwon is going down, he's bringing Minhyuk down with him.)

Hyungwon grimaces, gently pushing Changkyun away from him and stepping towards Kihyun.

"Hyung," Changkyun says, sounding a little worried, "you're not going to hurt him, right?  _ Hyung—" _

"Changkyun, it'll be fine," Hyungwon says. He sounds a lot calmer than he feels. Maybe this is how people feel when approaching their inevitable death. He turns to Kihyun, and nods. 

The room goes black.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Hyungwon can't believe he's actually dead. He'd kind of joked about it in his head, but he didn't actually expect to be immediately annihilated. He didn't even have time to say his goodbyes! Or to drag Minhyuk down with him!

"Will you  _ shut up, _ you're not dead, for crying out loud."

Hyungwon squeezes his eyes shut, then opens them again. Nope, still just pitch darkness all around him. 

"Who are you?" he cries out, helplessly. "Are you reading my mind?"

"No, you're just wailing on and on about how you always thought you and Minhyuk would die together when he makes you bungee jump off a cliff using a hundred slinkies joined together. Which, by the way — what the fuck?"

Hyungwon tries to look around. It's hard to tell if he's actually looking around when all that surrounds him is — nothing.

"I'm here, you absolute fool."

Hyungwon whips round to the source of the voice. And there he is — Kihyun, standing with his arms crossed, looking desperately unhappy about the situation. Hyungwon's never been so glad to see a demon in his life.

"Where — what is this place?"

"It's my void," Kihyun says, explaining nothing at all. "We had to come here, because Changkyun tries to eavesdrop otherwise."

Hyungwon nods slowly. He's still trying to piece together what's going on. "What are we doing in your, uh — void?"

Kihyun purses his lips together, and sits down. In mid-air. The darkness seems to swoop up to support him. He catches Hyungwon's look of amazement and smirks. "Go on," he says, "take a seat."

Part of Hyungwon is fascinated, and wants to give it a go. But most of him is just terrified that if he so much as moves a muscle, he'll tumble into an abyss for all eternity. He's not even sure what he's standing on, to be honest.

"Seriously," Kihyun repeats, "sit down."

And, okay, terrifying demon telling him to sit down? Hyungwon's going to sit down.

He bends his knees quickly, trying to trick his mind into believing that the void will catch him, after all, that's it had done for Kihyun — 

And then he falls flat on his bum. No chair, or anything, from the void. Hyungwon climbs to his feet, rubbing at his tailbone and looking at Kihyun with an expression of disgruntled disappointment. But not  _ too _ disgruntled — just because Kihyun  _ hasn't  _ eaten Hyungwon's soul is no assurance that he  _ won't. _

"Hah!" Kihyun grins, wide enough to reveal his canines. "Sorry, couldn't resist — that's for you getting your grabby hands all over Kyunnie."

Hyungwon feels his cheeks heat up. He doesn't point out that technically, Changkyun had been the one with the grabby hands in the kitchen. Mostly because he's been terrified into silence. He feels like he's meeting his boyfriend's parents for the first time. Except that Changkyun isn't his boyfriend, just a demon he's known for two days. And Kihyun is said demon's overprotective father figure who's kidnapped him into a parallel plane of existence.

In short —  _ terrified. _

"Sit down," Kihyun says, gesturing at the void behind Hyungwon. "I mean it, this time. No tricks."

Hyungwon lowers himself gingerly. The void comes up to meet him this time, a soft, velvety, but still very much invisible cushion. Hyungwon's not a fan, but it beats falling on his bum again. 

"So," Hyungwon says, nervously, "um—"

"I figured out why Changkyun can't go home." Kihyun cuts through whatever Hyungwon had been about to say — which, to be honest, wasn't much. "I couldn't understand it at first, then I saw him with you."

Hyungwon opens his mouth, then closes it again. He has nothing of use to contribute.

Kihyun appraises him slowly, one eyebrow quirked. "Do you know how demons usually travel back to our home plane?"

_ Poof,  _ supplies Hyungwon's brain, unbidden, in Minhyuk's voice. He grimaces. "Uh—" 

"We just think it, and then we go," Kihyun says, saving Hyungwon from the otherwise inevitable faux pas of saying 'poof' out loud. "Provided the correct home-going rituals, if necessary, have been performed. All it takes is the desire to go home, and then, just like that—"

_ Poof!  _ screams the Minhyuk-voice in Hyungwon's head, unhelpfully. Hyungwon scowls at his internal Minhyuk to shut up, then offers a sheepish smile when Kihyun gives him an odd look.

"So, you're saying — you have to make a wish to go home?"

Kihyun wrinkles up his nose. "No, not at all — but if you must put it like that in order to understand, fine," he says, looking extremely unhappy about this. "In any case, do you see where I'm going with this?"

_ Not really,  _ Hyungwon thinks. 

When he doesn't respond, Kihyun gives him an utterly unimpressed look. 

"I don't understand—" Hyungwon says feebly. Kihyun scowls at him.

"I'm saying," Kihyun says, with the air of explaining something to a particularly slow child, "that the reason why Changkyun can't leave is because he  _ doesn't want to." _

  
  


* * *

  
  


“It’s not difficult — if that’s the only thing keeping you here, I can bring you back with me easily.”

They’re back in the kitchen of Hyungwon’s flat, having returned to Minhyuk’s anguished wails of,  _ ‘I thought he had killed you’,  _ followed by Minhyuk physically launching himself into Hyungwon’s arms. It’s nice to know he’d be missed, Hyungwon supposes.

And now — Kihyun’s explaining the situation to Changkyun, who’s been nodding silently the entire time. It’s weird, him being so quiet. Hyungwon isn’t used to it.

“So, what do you say? You ready to go home?”

Changkyun’s gaze flicks over to Hyungwon. “Oh,” he says, “yeah, I suppose so.”

Hyungwon smiles, tight-lipped, trying to mean it. “Kihyun-ssi says that it won’t take long for you to learn how to travel back here,” he says. “Apparently you’re a quick learner, or something.”

A small smile plays at the corners of Changkyun’s lips. “Apparently.” He glances down at the floor between them, then back at Kihyun and Minhyuk. “Can I have a moment with Wonnie? Alone?”

Kihyun sighs, but he the way he looks at Changkyun — it’s fond. “Fine,” he says, then turns to Minhyuk. “So — fancy a trip to the void?”

Minhyuk lets out a screech of delight so piercing that Kihyun looks like he’s about to retract the offer and instead hex Minhyuk into oblivion. But Minhyuk latches onto Kihyun’s arm, and then the two of them are disappearing with what can only be described as a  _ poof. _

Hyungwon chuckles to himself as he turns back to Changkyun. “I don’t know which of them I’m more worried about.”

Changkyun laughs. He leans back against the counter. “Kihyun hyung, for sure — Minhyuk will talk his ears off.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” They’re skirting around the real issue. Hyungwon steps a little closer to Changkyun. “I can’t believe you’ve only been here two days.”

“I know.” Changkyun hooks his fingers through Hyungwon’s belt loops. “Being here — it feels so  _ right,  _ you know?”

Hyungwon smiles, even though his chest feels tight. He slips one hand up to push Changkyun’s hair off his forehead, fingers threading through the strands. When his fingers brush against the hidden nub of one of Changkyun’s horns, it makes Changkyun giggle.

“I’ll get licensed to travel without a summoning, don’t worry,” Changkyun says, “I’ll come visit. Kihyun hyung said it’ll probably be around a couple of months for you, right?”

“That’s right.” Hyungwon leans his forehead against Changkyun’s. 

Changkyun tips his chin up, presses his lips against Hyungwon’s. It’s soft, and chaste. Hyungwon kisses him back, hands cradling Changkyun’s face like he’s precious. 

“You know,” Changkyun says, smiling against Hyungwon’s lips, “do you remember — when Hoseok-ssi asked if I was your boyfriend?”

The memory makes Hyungwon laugh, despite himself. “I remember,” he says, pressing another kiss into the corner of Changkyun’s mouth. How ridiculous it had seemed at the time. How much less ridiculous it seems now. 

Changkyun seems to have the same thought, because when he pulls away slightly to look into Hyungwon’s eyes, there’s something like amusement sparkling in his eyes. He thumbs at Hyungwon’s cheek. “How things change.”

“Yeah,” Hyungwon replies. He can’t help but smile. Despite everything. “And in such a short space of time.”

Changkyun laughs. “Time isn’t real,” he says, leaning back so he can flick Hyungwon on the forehead. “Stupid.”

Hyungwon thinks back to what Kihyun had said to him in the void:

_ Changkyun’s fickle. He gets attached as quickly as he loses interest. I don’t want you to get your hopes up.  _

Too late.

Hyungwon scrunches up his nose at Changkyun, rubbing the spot on his forehead where he’d been flicked. “Will you really come back?”

Changkyun grins, and snaps his fingers. “I'll be back before you even know it."

_ Just because he doesn’t want to leave, doesn’t mean that he’ll want to come back. _

Hyungwon forces a smile, tries to tell himself that he means it. He pulls Changkyun close, presses a kiss into his forehead. 

"I'll be waiting," he says.

  
  


* * *

  
  


“Yah, Lee Minhyuk, what was the emergency that I had to rush back for?”

Hyungwon uses his foot to close the front door behind him, shrugging off his wool coat as he does so and chucking his armful of fashion magazines onto the sofa. It hadn’t been easy getting the internship, but all his modelling has certainly done him good — he at least knows the industry inside and out.

There's no response. The flat is quiet.

“Lee Minhyuk, aish — seriously.” 

Hyungwon was in the middle of a long, lazy afternoon in a café leafing through pretty magazines, and that's all been disrupted with one incoherent phone call from Minhyuk demanding that he  _ ‘get home, right now’ _ . His roommate better be dying or otherwise seriously incapacitated, is all he's saying.

He runs one hand through his hair in frustration, stomping towards the bedrooms, ready to give Minhyuk a piece of his mind.

Then the door to his bedroom opens.

And out steps Changkyun.

“Hey,” says Changkyun, his voice low and laced with hidden humour, sounding exactly as Hyungwon remembers. He shoots Hyungwon a brilliant grin, and it’s so familiar that it’s like he’d never left. “I hope you don’t mind — I got bored waiting so I went and poked around in your room.”

Hyungwon feels something in his chest tighten. He gapes at Changkyun. “You’re — what are you doing here?”

“I told you I’d come back, right?”

“That was  _ eight months ago!” _

Changkyun scrunches up his face. “Time isn’t real,” he says, waving one hand at Hyungwon dismissively. “Also, those licencing tests were, like — really difficult. Turns out I'm a quick learner but bad at taking exams."

Hyungwon lets out a wheeze of indignation. “What — why — why didn’t you send Kihyun to tell me you were going to be late?”

“I wanted to  _ surprise  _ you, stupid.” Changkyun says this like it’s obvious. Hyungwon makes another spluttering sort of noise, and Changkyun raises an eyebrow at him. “You know — this is exactly what you sounded like, the first time we met.”

Hyungwon takes a single, large step forward, and smacks Changkyun on the arm. “I thought you weren’t coming back!”

Changkyun just beams at him. “This is why you’re stupid.”

“No,  _ you’re  _ stupid — what if — what if I’d started dating someone else? What then?”

This, at least, makes Changkyun’s face fall. “Are you?” he asks, fiercely. “Are you dating someone? Who is he? Tell me, I’ll eat his soul, don’t try me — I will!”

Hyungwon snorts out a laugh. He drags Changkyun in for a hug, burying his face in Changkyun’s hair. “I missed you.”

Changkyun giggles into Hyungwon’s chest, arms winding round Hyungwon’s waist. “Me too,” he mumbles, and Hyungwon gets a distinct sense of vertigo. He’s glad he’s holding on to Changkyun, or he might just fall over.

He’s just thinking that Changkyun feels so real, so solid, in his arms, when Changkyun abruptly shoves Hyungwon away with a shout of alarm. Hyungwon would be more concerned if Changkyun didn't look so blindingly happy. 

"Let's go eat bingsu!" Changkyun shrieks, like the thought’s just occurred to him.

Hyungwon finds himself laughing, in both confusion and amusement. “What — it’s the middle of winter!”

Changkyun pouts. It’s just as disarming as it had been the first time. “That’s what Hyunwoo hyung does with his boyfriend,” he complains, “they go eat bingsu.”

“Ah,” Hyungwon replies, smirking, “like on a date? Are you asking me out on a date? Isn’t this a little forward — I’ve only known you for three days.”

“I passed all those tests for you,” Changkyun whines. He latches onto the sleeve of Hyungwon’s sweater, shakes his arm about. “Please, please,  _ please—” _

Hyungwon can’t even be mad. He wriggles his arm out of Changkyun’s grasp so he can sling it around Changkyun’s shoulder, ruffles up Changkyun’s hair with his other hand. He can feel the hidden nubs of Changkyun’s horns. 

“You’re a little demon, you know that?”

The corners of Changkyun’s mouth lift into a coy smile. 

“Yes,” he says, winking, “yes, I am.”

**Author's Note:**

> if you follow me on twitter you will have seen that this fic literally came out of NOWHERE and then suddenly it was 15k words long and I was weeping into my hands... 
> 
> I wanted to keep it light-hearted despite the *feels* towards the end so I hope it worked out! also I wanted to include all the mx boys but I couldn't squeeze hyunwoo in, sorry nunu - he still got a mention tho! just no lines oops. and obv hyungkyun's feelings progressed super quickly but I like to think that they were somehow ~fated~ to be drawn to each other and also it's not like they're actually boyfies they're just going on dates idk it's CUTE and DUMB sue me (don't sue me) (but let me know what you thought pls) (love u)
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/saturnalyia)


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